THE Oriental man whose body was found dumped in a North Yorkshire canal may have been trafficked into Britain, police believe.

Detectives say that if the murdered man was a UK resident or a migrant worker, they would have expected his disappearance to have been reported by now.

Detective Superintendent Karnail Dulku also said he was wearing long johns which were made in China and were not, to his knowledge, sold in Britain. “This leads one to conclude he may have not been in this country for very long,” he said.

He admitted he had currently no idea even of the nationality of the man, whose body was found in Selby Canal last Friday with very severe facial injuries, but one possibility was that he had been trafficked. “I do have the concern that he may be a trafficked individual but I don’t know that for a fact at this present time.”

He said the man could be Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese or come from some other country in south-east Asia, but he was seeking help from an anthropologist in trying to establish his country of origin.

DS Dulku was issuing a two pronged appeal for help in identifying the man, whose body is believed to have been in the canal near the village of Burn for two or three weeks before being spotted by an angler last Friday.

He said he wanted anyone who lived, worked, walked or fished in the area to report anything suspicious they had seen in the past three weeks, during the day or the night, which might have appeared innocuous at the time but which could now assist in police inquiries.

He also wanted members of the Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean or South East Asian community across Britain who had noticed someone going missing within the last three weeks to contact police.

“Do you know anyone fitting the description of the murdered man who you have not seen for the last three weeks?” he asked, revealing that so far, he had not received any leads from the Oriental community, although there had been some potential sightings locally which he was not prepared to discuss further at this stage.

The man was 5ft, 7ins tall, with black, straight, collar-length hair, and was wearing a Calvin Klein t-shirt.

DS Dulku revealed that 30 police officers were involved in the murder investigation, along with another eight police divers, who were involved in searching entire 8km length of the canal between the River Ouse and the River Aire for clothing and personal effects from the man and also a potential weapon. Officers were also searching undergrowth on the bankside yesterday.

DS Dulku said the man could have been dumped in the canal anywhere along the canal and drifted to the place where it was found.